6 JULY 1979 — The civilian population in any conflict suffers the most, and the conflict in Nicaragua was no exception. Caught in the middle of two armed forces, civilians struggle for the basics to survive. Food. Water. Shelter. And they struggle not to incur the suspicion or the wrath of the contending forces. Human […]
2 JULY 1979 — I traveled to the northern city of Esteli, the scene of ferocious fighting between government forces and insurgents struggling to defeat them. In the picture above, a Sandinista rebel serenades his “companeros” during a lull in the battle. By this time fighting had spread to population centers across Nicaragua. The foreign […]
1 JULY 1979 — Moises Hassan, the only member of the five-person Junta of National Reconstruction already in Nicaragua while fighting still raged across the country, talks about the future during an exclusive interview with myself and colleague Leif Skoogfors. Leif and I were the only two American journalists to have gained access to Masaya […]
30 JUNE 1979 — After their strategic retreat from Managua, Sandinista fighters and supporters occupy the nearby city of Masaya, one of numerous population centers slipping out of government control. For the first time since launching their “Final Offensive” against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship, jubilant Sandinistas now see the possibility of victory. In the early […]
28 JUNE 1979 – This is what I witnessed as I drove over back roads early on the morning of 28 June 1979 to drop a colleague off at the airport. Hundreds of Sandinista fighters and supporters retreated from Managua because, as one of them said, the civilian population was being hammered by government forces’ […]
27 JUNE 1979 — Members of President Anastasio Somoza’s National Guard fire at Sandinista insurgents during heavy fighting along the contested northern highway leading from the capital of Managua to the international airport. As in too many of these conflicts, this war pitted neighbor against neighbor, family against family, brother against brother. While reviewing these […]